In residential and commercial construction, hose bibs (external faucets) are installed on one or more exterior walls to provide access to a water supply from outside the building. With brick exteriors, installation and maintenance of hose bibs and the surrounding brick is difficult. In a typical installation, a hose bib goes through a drilled hole in a bandboard at the plumbing rough stage. A mason then bricks up the outside around the hose bib. Mortar is placed around the bib pipe to hold it in place next to the surrounding bricks. On some occasions, brick or wood pieces are used with the mortar to surround the hose bib to help improve the appearance. Laying brick around the hose bib is difficult and sometimes results in physical damage to the hose bib during the bricking process. For example, the gravity drain feature of the hose bib is sometimes damaged during this process. After bricking around the hose bib, it is common for the hose bib to be insecure or loose such that it wiggles when used.
Repairing or replacing a hose bib at a later date is also difficult. Since the hose bib is surrounded by brick and mortar, removal of the hose bib can be difficult. For example, the plumber may have to pound out the hose bib from inside (which normally dislodges the mortar therearound) so he can saw off the outside portion and push the rest back through the hole to the inside. At that point, there is a big hole in the mortar and no way to screw a new hose bib into the brick. There is therefore a need for a new and improved device and method for aiding the installation and maintenance of hose bibs. The present invention is directed to meeting these and other needs.